80:08

We struggled with the duration of the event. A day seems too short and collectors may not be available and many potential donors may be missed and a decision will have to be made whether to concentrate resources in a city during a working day or in suburban locations over a weekend. A week seemed too long to sustain with getting commitment from volunteer collectors and keeping enthusiasm going. The 80:08 seems to hit a sweet spot between the two, running for 80 hours and 8 minutes over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday giving 72 hours with eight hours on the Monday and the eight minutes to take everyone past the morning news to POMegedon. Of the 72 hours we would think volunteers would be collecting for 12 hours on a Friday – topped and tailed by commuters – 6am to 6pm, eight hours on the Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 6pm, and maybe two hours from 6am on the Monday morning, giving a potential total of 28 hours of collectors on the street. Depending on your local circumstances your hours can be adapted as needed.

Dates:

This is something for each individual charity to decide but the last weekend in September (25^th, 26^th, 27^th and 28^th or the first weekend in October 2026 (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th) looks to be suitable. It was originally selected as this is the kick-off weekend of a major contact sport competition but this differs significantly in every country and sport. So maybe try to keep roughly near the date but bear in mind moving it later will begin to impact on Armistice Day charities.